Question

We all know that you can overload a function according to the parameters:

int mul(int i, int j) { return i*j; } std::string mul(char c, int n) { return std::string(n, c); }  

Can you overload a function according to the return value? Define a function that returns different things according to how the return value is used:

int n = mul(6, 3); // n = 18 std::string s = mul(6, 3); // s = '666' // Note that both invocations take the exact same parameters (same types) 

You can assume the first parameter is between 0-9, no need to verify the input or have any error handling.

Answer 1

class mul { public:     mul(int p1, int p2)     {         param1 = p1;         param2 = p2;     }     operator int ()     {         return param1 * param2;     }      operator std::string ()     {         return std::string(param2, param1 + '0');     }  private:     int param1;     int param2; }; 

Not that I would use that.